Mom Diaries: The Struggle of Preparing Baon Everyday

It’s always been one of my struggles as a mom to get my daughter to eat healthily when she’s in school. She doesn’t have full-on lunch yet since she’s still in Prep so she only has recess or snack time. When we go to the grocery, we usually get her those biscuits and packaged snacks that are easy to prepare (literally no prep, just stuff-in-the-lunchbox-and-go). But recently, as part of their school advocacy for kids to eat more nutritious food – aka Go, Grow, Glow food – they have to bring healthy and nutritious snacks for recess.

The question is – how in the world do I make this a peaceful transition without inciting World War 3? I wanted to delay this exact situation for one more year until she enters 1st Grade but with her school-mandated advocacy, I had no choice but to face it asap. Thankfully, I was equipped with extra (and I mean millenial speak extra~) skills going about this battle in the school year ahead. Let me take you through it, mommas. Keep reading to find out how you can even sneakily make them eat vegetables in school *wink wink*

So how exactly did I go about this challenge? Well I learned a few tricks from Kat Maderazo of Bento by Kat using Gold Seas Tuna for my first experiment. Check out our session with her below. Please don’t judge my skills – I’m a newbie bento boxer! Hehe.

So this it my workstation of the day a.k.a my tools for the Bento Box making challenge for that day.

Broccoli guys – broccoli! I would be boggled on how to include that in Selene’s baon without getting the “Why is there vegetable in my lunchbox?” talk. Trust me, I wish my kids were born munching broccoli and celery sticks since birth. Hah!

I swear, hands down to this momma who’s got mad skills preparing bento boxes EVERYDAY for her kids! I wish I had the patience, creativity and effort. But one day at a time, friends. One day at a time!

She taught us how to mould, shape and cut out rice, grapes and vegetables to look like cartoon characters you would love to gobble up in minutes!

Even coloring the food naturally – if you’ve got the time – with natural ingredients. You can always opt for food coloring to make things quicker!

I got lost midway through the workshop because I obsessed over these moulders and cookie cutters you can make use of to shape any vegetable, fruit or food item. I even bought a sandwich moulder after the workshop because I was determined (KEYWORD: determine) to be a bento-boxing momma one sandwich at a time.

After a few minutes of catching up, this is how my SNAIL (yes, that’s a snail in progress friends) is shaping up!

And after more minutes of not wanting to be the worst mom ever (HAHA), I finally reached a decent enough ‘kawaii snail on grass’ bento without any help! Hahaha! I’m proud of me! Now how do I do this everyday?

See those pancakes on the bottom right? Uh huh. Those are tuna pancakes made out of Gold Seas tuna! Oh diba? Your kids getting their Omega 3 fix without even knowing it’s fish! I had Selene taste them right when I got home and it’s a WIN for Mom and a WIN for TUNA! She loves it! Dipped in ketchup, it’s her favorite snack now which we even cook for dinner and lunch sometimes as she craves for it! Our next favorite? Shaping grapes into tiny little hearts – now I’m excited to cut everything oval-shaped – like fruits and sausages for example – into hearts!

The aftermath of the bento box making! Hahaha. Look how the watermelon were shaped into tiny fishies. Sooo cute! I thought to myself if I wanted to do this on the regular, I’d have to wake up at 5AM to start preparing. Ha ha!

Thanks Kat for teaching this ultimate mom hack to mommas everywhere and making our kids veggie-and-fish lovers one bento box at a time! So so happy!

The middle one on the first row is what I got for Selene’s sandwiches – I feel like the best mom ever when I saw her face light up opening up her Yumbox and seeing the panda-shaped sandwich I made for her.

Just so proud of my “masterpiece”. Was so excited to introduce the tuna pancakes to Selene (and Tristan) that day. Of course, we only choose Gold Seas Tuna because they have absolutely no extenders and their tuna just tastes frikkin’ delicious. Their flavored ones are instant ulam – I love the mild curry version the most!

Gold Seas Tuna Cake recipe:

Yield: 7-8 patties

Ingredients:
1 can Gold Seas Yellowfin Tuna Chunks in Olive Oil, drained
1 large Potato
1 Egg
Salt to taste
Oil from tuna can
Directions:
1. Peel potatoes and slice into smaller pieces. Boil until soft for about 20 minutes. Drain
and mash.
2. Mix the tuna chunks and mashed potatoes.
3. Add egg and mix well.
4. Form into patties.
5. Lightly oil a non-stick skillet using the olive oil from the tuna can.
6. Fry until golden brown.
This is good as is, or prepared as a sandwich and it is good with any dip.

What I love about Gold Seas Tuna is it has full taste as it contains real, pure and meatier tuna that meets world class quality. You’ll know that Gold Seas Tuna Chunks is also premium because of its packaging – it is the first local canned tuna brand that is packed in easy open Lithograph cans. They also put their tab at the bottom to reduce exposure of the lid to dirt and pollutants.

Aside from that, they are committed to sustainability and exercise responsible fishing. They use a type of gear called Purse Seine which is a long wall of netting framed with a lead line of equal or longer length that the float line. Tuna purse seining involves surrounding tuna schools with a net, impounding the fish by pursing the net, and drying up the catch by hauling the net so that fish are crowded in the bunt then be brailed out.

How about you mommas? Do you make it a point to get your kids to eat healthy when they’re in school? What are your mom hacks for this?